Six hundred miles to the west of Ecuador, (a small country in the northwest portion of South America,) lie the breathtaking and amazing volcanic Galapagos Islands.  Accidentally discovered in 1535 by Fray Tomas de Berlanga, these “Isolas de Galapagos” (Islands of the Tortoises) would become a hideaway for pirates and a place to stop for fresh food on long passages.  Later named the Enchanted Islands (due to their reputation for disappearing into the fog during some seasons,) the Galapagos would increase in popularity during the 1800’s, and even get its own impromptu post office.  Colonists from Ecuador would come to start small farms there during the beginning of that century.  In 1835, Charles Darwin, would visit the Galapagos, which would seed the notions that would become the theory of Evolution, and inspire his works on Natural Selection and biological adaptation.
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